


i called your name until the fever broke

by fairylightsandrainydays



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, Caleb Covington Being an Asshole, Don't worry tho theres a happy ending, Everyone Join the I Hate Caleb Club, F/M, Hope you like it!, Hurt Alex Mercer, Hurt Willie, Hurt/Comfort, I'm just really angsty in this one you guys, Loosely Based on Hozier's Cherry Wine, M/M, Songfic, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:40:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairylightsandrainydays/pseuds/fairylightsandrainydays
Summary: He doesn’t even notice how hurt he is until he meets Alex, meets Alex who is not a part of the HGC and is the only ghost Willie knows that isn’t.He meets Alex’s band, and the mysterious Julie, too. (Not Alex’s girlfriend, to Willie’s internal relief). Willie can see the difference between Julie and the Phantoms and the Hollywood Ghost Club like he can see the difference between apples and oranges.---------A Willex oneshot that ended up being 5000 words >_<
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 24
Kudos: 145





	i called your name until the fever broke

He doesn’t remember when he first found the Hollywood Ghost Club. He doesn’t even know if he found it at all, or if he was just scoped out by Caleb.

He doesn’t remember his first day on the job, or his second, or his first week, his first year. He doesn’t remember how he made friends with Caleb.

He only remembers how it felt before the Club.

He remembers skating around the great old City of Angels, and making as much noise as possible, causing a racket, trying to get noticed.

Attention whore.

Something Caleb calls him. It’s a bit strange, really. It seems, out of the two of them, that Caleb is the one who is desperate for attention.

And really, Willie wasn’t looking for attention. He was looking for… closure? Reassurance? Someone to say you aren’t alone, I see you, come here to me.

And that is what the Club gives him, what Caleb gives him. As long as he does what he is expected to. When he doesn’t…

Well.

Willie has the bruises to show what happens when he doesn’t behave.

He doesn’t even notice how hurt he is until he meets Alex, meets Alex who is not a part of the HGC and is the only ghost Willie knows that isn’t.

He meets Alex’s band, and the mysterious Julie, too. (Not Alex’s girlfriend, to Willie’s internal relief). Willie can see the difference between Julie and the Phantoms and the Hollywood Ghost Club like he can see the difference between apples and oranges.

He can see how much it hurts him to keep going back there. But what’s he going to do? Stop? He can’t stop. Not when he relies on Caleb for everything, not to mention he has to protect the boys, make up for everything that he’s done to them.

Alex’s eyes fill with worry when Willie shows up at the studio with a black eye. Willie brushes it off, he’s fine, he fell while skating. 

Unless you fall perfectly on a rock or something, assuming you don’t blind yourself, there’s literally no way to get a black eye on a skateboard.

Willie’s relying on Alex’s limited knowledge of skating to save him from a longer discussion.

He really hates lying to Alex. He hates it so, so much. But there’s not much he can do, is there?

Willie lost a customer today. He had started the day bad anyway, and then he spilled wine on an old man’s shoes, he misplaced the man’s soup, and the man stormed out of the HGC, muttering that even in the afterlife, you can’t get a decent meal.

He didn’t mean to, he really didn’t, please, don’t hurt him, he’s sorry.

His begging didn’t stop the jolts, though. Because why actually use your physical strength when you can just use your power to inflict whatever wound you want?

Usually, it’s forcing Willie to relive his death, the impact of the car on his back, the crack of his head on the cold pavement, something whose marks it’d be hard to see unless you were looking.

Today, it’s only a black eye. 

Well, he says only.

It’s the pain of fifty black eyes, only appearing as one.

Willie couldn’t explain it if you asked him, he was barely getting by with Alex’s questions.

Ghost magic was weird.

Alex relents when Willie shoves his hands away, retreating with some hurt in his eyes. Willie shouldn’t have done that. He’s hurt Alex enough already, hasn’t he?

So he lets Alex worry over him, lets him call Julie over to heal his eye with a little concentration. And then she starts fretting, and that’s when he pulls away.

“Jeez, mom, stop fussing! I’m fine, really!” And he is, he really is, Julie’s got a magic touch, and Alex has his hand on Willie’s shoulder.

Of course, he’ll have to find a way to explain to Caleb why the mark is missing from his face tomorrow, but that is a problem for future Willie. Current Willie grins, relaxing into the sofa crease he’s carved out into Luke’s couch as he watches the band rehearse.

They’re so kind to each other. It’s something he noticed the first time he was privy to a rehearsal. When Alex loses the beat of the song and looks as though he’s about to start tugging at his hair, scratching at his hands, the rest of the band stops playing and starts over, not scolding the boy at all, or changes the song to accommodate Alex’s new beat as swiftly as a single-brained organism.

When Luke misses his cue, and his angry face pops up, Julie grins and walks over to him, holding her microphone, pushes the crease out of his forehead, nods to him. It’s okay, join her when he’s ready.

It’s almost confusing to him the first few times he sees it. This isn’t how performers are supposed to work, is it? You’re punished for your fuck ups, you get scolded when you trip in the middle of the dance floor, right?

It’s moments like these that make Willie recognise exactly what the Club is doing to him.

He goes back the next day, makes up a stupid lie about using makeup to cover it up so that Dante and Fuego wouldn’t have to, and for a moment, he thinks it works.

And then there’s a tsk, tsk, tsk from Caleb, and Willie’s spirits meet the ground.

“How do I tolerate lying in my club, William?”

“You don’t.”

“Apologies, what was that?”

Willie’s throat clears and he lifts his head up.

“You don’t.”

Caleb smiles. It doesn’t meet his eyes. “And you know the punishment for lying?”

Willie’s eyes widen. It’s actually funny, for the most part, Caleb’s punishments revolve around his jolting power, and for that reason, Willie’s managed to keep it under wraps from Alex any time he fucks up in the Club.  
But the thing is, Caleb really doesn’t like lying. Everyone speculates it has something to do with his past, but no one’s had the courage to ask. No one has the courage to ever do anything except what Caleb wants around here.

“Caleb, please, no, I swear I didn’t mean to-”

Caleb waves his hand, and Willie’s mouth shuts. “Hand it over, boy. Don’t make this hard.” 

Willie’s eyes fall. How’s he going to explain this to Alex when he sees him today? He reluctantly summons his board, handing it to Caleb.

“Thank you, William. You’ll get this back when I’ve seen you have atoned for what you’ve done.”

Willie turns to go. This might take a while.

The first time he feels it, he’s carrying a bottle of wine to a pair of Lifers. It resonates in his stomach, almost makes him double over, brings tears to his eyes. But he can’t drop the wine.

So he keeps moving, smiles blandly at the Lifers, pours their drinks. 

It happens again and again over the course of the night.

He knows what Caleb is doing.

Not all ghosts have objects connected to their souls, actually most of them don’t. It just means that no material object in their past life was more important to them than anything in the world. Those who do have these objects, which Willie calls “Horcruxes” (sue him, he’s a nerd), are much more vulnerable than those who don’t. 

Ghosts are pretty unbreakable, but if you have one’s Horcrux, you can do whatever you want with them. Willie’s board?

Well.

That’s his Horcrux.

And since Caleb owns his soul, he effectively owns Willie’s board, and can therefore do whatever he fucking wants to it.

And whatever Caleb does to Willie’s board, it hurts him. A lot.

At the end of the work day, Willie finds Caleb lounging on a sofa in a back room of the Club, painting his nails.

“Hey, um, Caleb?”

The man looks up at Willie, gracefully lifting an eyebrow. He was really good at establishing ultimate power through very small, very dominating motions.

“Do you need something, William?”

Willie’s hands fidget with the buttons on the bottom of his shirt, and he avoids looking in the other man’s eyes.

“Could - could I have my board back? I… this is only my first offense, and I -”

“Wrong.”

“I - I’m sorry?”

Caleb stands, his eyes suddenly blazing. Willie takes a step back.

“This is not your first offense, nor is it your second. This is not even in the top five. You lie your way into situations, boy, and you lie your way deeper into them, falsely believing that you have escaped.”

He snaps his fingers, and a sheen of white mist appears next to him.

“Did you think, perhaps, that you had pulled the wool over my eyes? That you had fooled me?”

He advances on Willie, whose thoughts are frantic, looking for an escape and subsequently backing himself into a corner.

Caleb snaps again, and a picture of Alex and Willie when they first met appears in the mist.

“One.”

He snaps again. A picture of Alex and Willie screaming together in a museum.

“Two.”

Snap. Alex and Willie embracing outside the Orpheum.

“Three.”

Snap. Willie laughing, his forehead pressed into Alex’s shoulder, Alex kissing the top of his head and running his fingers through Willie’s hair.

“Four.”

Snap. Willie in his sofa crease, watching the band rehearse.

“Five.”

Snapsnapsnapsnapsnap picturepicturepicturepicture.

Over and over, there are so many of them, and Caleb stops counting at around twenty, and Willie can’t keep track. It’s terrifying how much Caleb knows, how many pictures are coming, and he barely notices when tears start to stain his cheeks.

When the pictures stop, Willie has slid down the wall to the floor, where he is sat with his arms curled around his knees, looking at Caleb in fear.

Caleb holds his gaze. “How many lies, William?”

Willie says nothing, and Caleb presses harder.

“How. Many. Lies.”

Willie shakes his head and sniffs. “I - I don’t know, sir.” He tacks on the “sir” at the end in hopes of garnering a little bit of favour from Caleb, though what it would do for him, he doesn’t know.

Caleb folds his arms. “I have just shown you one hundred and eight instances in which you, William, have lied to me, have broken the trust I have in you. Instances that you have not yet paid for.”

Willie doesn’t think he’s getting his board back.

Caleb advances on Willie, and he wants to run away but he has nowhere to go and he can’t just poof out, Caleb can simply yank him back.

“So when you ask me,” the man says, “after just a single day of half-assed work, if you can have your precious skateboard back, what do you suppose my answer will be?”

Willie shakes his head. He can’t breathe.

“Use your fucking words, William.”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“No, I won’t get my board back.” he manages to choke out.

“That is absolutely right. You, William, will not get your skateboard back, will not get it back until you have repented, and I must say, it is hard for a clueless boy like you to repent easily. I’m surprised that boyfriend of yours, Alex, was it? Well, I’m surprised he’s stuck around this long. No matter, he’ll certainly be gone once he learns that you’ve lied to him.”

In three simple sentences, Caleb has voiced Willie’s deepest fears as easily as taking a fall on a skateboard. Caleb kneels next to Willie.

“You see what happens when you lie, Willie? Do you understand why I must do this to you?”

Willie can’t speak, he really can’t speak, and Caleb sighs. “Well, you still don’t seem to have understood what needs to happen for you to be forgiven. Let me show you, then.”

He stands, snaps his fingers, and one of the dancers, a man named Gabriel, appears from behind a hidden door in the corner of the room, carrying Willie’s board.

Willie’s eyes catch on his Horcrux, and for all the panic he’s feeling right now, he breathes out and relaxes, just a little. Perhaps Caleb is going to give his board back. He’d said he wouldn’t, but maybe he’d had a change of mind. Maybe… 

Willie has never seen what Caleb looks like when he’s sending out a jolt, only what those on the receiving end look like.

What he sees before the pain starts is almost comical.  
Caleb stretches out a hand toward Willie’s board, squinches his face up in concentration, and Willie understands why he never lets people see this.

But he’s only amused for a second, because Willie is suddenly sent into a storm of pain, and the world goes white.

He screams, his arms falling from around his knees and clutching at the place in his chest where his heart would be, if he were still alive. He screams and screams until his throat goes raw, but Caleb has soundproofed this room so that even if someone were around to hear him, they wouldn’t. He can scream for as long as he’d like, and no one would help him.

He’s been on the receiving end of one too many of Caleb’s jolts, but if that’s what it feels like being hit by a bullet, this is like drowning. This is the car that hit him getting him right in the back and breaking it, killing him instantly instead of the slow torture that was his real death. This is a dagger being stabbed straight into his heart and twisting, slowly, agonizingly.

And then suddenly, it falls away, slowly, like the tide going out. From something that feels like a great distance away, he faintly hears Caleb saying, “that should do the trick.”

When he focuses, he’s lying on the cold stone floor of the back room, his hair strewn across his face.

Caleb kneels in front of him again. “William?”

Willie wants to yell, wants to run into Alex’s arms, he wants to wake up and be okay. But he can’t do any of those things, so he only whimpers.

Caleb tuts, stretching out a creased hand toward Willie’s cheek. Willie wants to cringe away, but he can’t move at all, really, so he feels the brush of the other man’s hand, pushing away the hair there. 

Willie’s hair hasn’t been touched by anyone but himself and Alex, and Caleb, this man who is evil in a six foot three inch body that smells of cologne, when Caleb touches it, Willie wants to throw up in his mouth.

“Oh, William. You know I don’t like hurting you. It pains me to see you like this, it truly does. But I’m afraid you never leave me any choice. When your performer fucks up -” he stresses the fucks up - “he must be disciplined.”

Willie wants to spit in Caleb’s face, scream at him.

Liar! You shitfaced liar! Julie and the guys are nice, they’re performers, they talk to each other when they mess up! No one gets hurt with them!

Willie is suddenly hit with a craving for the energy that comes from just being in Julie’s studio, it’s magical and happy, and so unlike the HGC, constantly illuminated by the fluorescent bulbs in every room, and yet so full of darkness.

Caleb straightens up and drops Willie’s board dangerously close to his face. 

“Now. I believe that you wanted this back? Well, take it, why don’t you?” This is a cruel and unkind joke, and both Caleb and Willie know it. 

“William, if you can take your board back, you can have it, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Willie doesn’t move. He can’t move, goddammit!

Caleb sighs. “Well, I wasn’t surprised. You disappoint me, William. I would punish you more, but you seem as though you’re about to black out, and that just won’t do, will it? So, let’s try this.”

He snaps his fingers again and two ghosts, one Dante, and the other a woman named Millie, appear. “Dante, Millie, take William here to his friend Julie’s studio, will you? Oh, and take his board, too, he’ll be wanting that.”

Willie is flooded with relief. He’s going to the studio? Really? There’s no way this is a trick.

Millie and Dante take him by the arms and make ready to carry him out the door. On their way out, Caleb stops them, tilting Willie’s chin up.

“Let us see how that boyfriend of yours takes seeing you like this, shall we?”

The relief is short-lived, replaced by fear and panic. Alex can’t see him like this, he’ll freak out, and Willie really hates it when Alex freaks out, because when Alex freaks out, he starts pacing, and he starts scratching at his hands and shoulders and tugging hard on his hair and Alex can’t see him like this, it’ll break him.

But Willie can’t move, he can’t do anything but let himself be dragged through the hidden door. This is worse than the pain of Caleb jolting his board, really. This is imagining how Alex will feel, how he’ll look, and really, Willie would do anything to be in his arms again, because Alex has this weird thing where he’s just really warm for some reason and Willie could use some warmth right now but he can’t go to Alex because Alex will break down but he wants to see Alex but he can’t-

He doesn’t realise where they are until Millie and Dante dump him unceremoniously in front of the garage door, tossing his board down next to him.

“He didn’t say to bring the traitor inside, did he?” he hears Dante say.

“No, he didn’t. Why don’t we leave him here? Make him wait a while.” Millie responds.

God-fucking-dammnit, he still can’t move. He can’t do fucking anything, can he? This is cruel, it’s awful, he hates it, he hates it so much.

He hears music playing inside, and smiles internally. Always, always, playing, that band. Always rehearsing, performing, kicking ass with their music. It’s a song he hasn’t heard before, and it’s strangely slow for Julie and the Phantoms. It’s really only Julie singing, playing the piano, Luke and Reggie playing a quiet baseline beneath it, and Alex, very, very quietly, tapping out a beat on one drum.

It reminds him of how it felt, being so alone, before the Club, before Caleb, before Alex. 

He’d hit a point somewhere where the club was just no longer benefiting him how it used to, it was draining all his energy instead of feeding it to him, the way a normal extrovert like himself would function. It was like he was losing the colour of the world, like he was forgetting his most important traits, how to smile, how to laugh, how to breathe. The only times he felt somewhat free was when he was out skating, and Caleb had been restricting that more and more.

And then he met Alex, and it was like a five-year-old had accidentally dumped paint on the universe, and he could breathe again.

Alex, who paced when he was anxious, who introduced him to the world of music in a way he’d never seen before, Alex who wore his heart on his sleeve, and who trusted him so dearly, from the moment Willie’d met him. And then Willie had betrayed that trust, and he should have been punished for it, but Alex was weird, and kind, and beautiful, and he just… forgave Willie.

God, he really loves that boy.

Willie hears the drumbeat slow, and thinks it’s the end of the song, until he hears Luke say, “Alex? You okay, man?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” comes Alex’s voice. “I just… I’ll be right back, I thought I heard my name.”

“From outside?”

“Ye- just give me a minute, okay?”

Willie hears the clatter of Alex’s sticks against the stone floor of the studio, so unlike the stone of the room where he’d been only minutes before. That’s weird. Alex doesn’t drop his sticks, he values them entirely too much.

“Alex, are you sure you’re okay?” Julie asks, a bit more concerned than Luke.

There is nothing from Alex’s voice, probably he’s nodding at Julie. Footsteps come closer and closer towards Willie, and his head is right near the door, he should probably move, but he still can’t fucking move because even though the pain has receded somewhat, it hurts everywhere, and his brain seemingly isnt connected to his body anymore, so he’s not going anywhere.

Alex trips on him. 

It’s funny really, that’s the second time it’s been his fault Alex has fallen down.

Ha.

His fault.

He’s done lots of things to hurt Alex, hasn’t he?

“Willie?”

He’s lied to him.

“Willie, can you hear me?”

He brought him to the club.

“Willie, what happened? What’s going on?”

And now he’s here, hurting his boyfriend even more. Jesus fuck, why can’t he just be a normal ghost that rattles chains and goes boo!

That’s a hurtful ghost stereotype, Willie, comes Julie’s voice in his head, teasing.

“Willie!” He’s being shaken, and then pulled into Alex’s lap.

He looks at his boyfriend. Oh, his eyes work. Joy and streamers. He manages a smile. And his mouth works, too. But can he talk?

With much effort, he forces out, “hey, hot dog.”

Alex does not smile.

Great, he’s disappointed him even more.

“Willie, what’s going on? What happened? Why aren’t you moving, why is your chest bloody, I thought ghosts didn’t have blood, Willie, I’m freaking out.” For freaking out, Alex is keeping his voice surprisingly quiet.

Willie licks his lips. “Caleb.”

Alex’s face darkens. “That bastard. He did this to you?”

Willie nods.

Alex glances around frantically, his eyes looking everywhere but at Willie. Is Willie really that bad to look at?

Alex’s eyes stop on where Dante and Millie threw his board, just a few feet away. “Is that yours? Your Horcrux?”

Willie blinks in confirmation, and Alex reaches his hand toward it. Having your Horcrux near you is always somewhat comforting, and if Willie could just hold his board…

But Alex’s fingers brush it, and Willie lets out a scream, and Alex yanks his hand back but Willie keeps screaming, and why does this hurt so much I thought we were done I thought he was finished and Alex is breathing hard and tears are coming to his eyes and he’s saying “what did I do, please be okay, Willie, please be okay.”

And then there are running footsteps and the rest of the band pushes through the doors and crowds around Willie and Alex.

Reggie’s voice: “Is that Willie?”

Luke’s voice: “Yeah, I think it is. Alex, what’s wrong with him?”

Julie’s voice, closer to the both of them, probably she’s kneeling down next to them but Willie can’t focus on anything but Alex and how hurt and scared and pained he looks and he put that look there and he is so so sorry: “Luke, Alex is in no state to answer that. Alex. Hey, Alex. Look at me. That’s it, there we go. Breathe, in, out, in, out, Luke, go get me some salt.”

Luke: “Yes, ma’am, back in ten seconds.”

Julie: “Easy, Alex, breathe. Willie’s okay, he’s okay, we’re all going to be okay, he’s stopped screaming.”

And Willie is far from okay, he’s curled up in a ball now, his head in Alex’s lap, and he’s stuck there, but if it can calm Alex down, then dammit he’s okay.

Luke materialises next to Julie, holding out the salt packet. “Milady.”

Julie takes it, tears it open, and pours a little bit into Alex’s mouth. Willie is somewhat used to this, he’s been around for one of Alex’s panic attacks before. The idea is, salt is a seasoning that tastes like literal death if you use too much of it, so if you pour some into your mouth while you’re freaking out, your brain will be diverted away from worryworryworry and into what the ever loving fuck is this grossgrossgross get it out of my mouth ewwwww.

And it works, in Alex’s case. Willie hears his breathing slow and he turns and spits out most of the salt.

“Okay, I’m okay. But that’s not the point the point is what the hell did fucking Covington do to my boyfriend?” Alex's voice still shakes with panic, but the anxiety is receding slowly, and Alex's breathing is still laboured but it's coming back and Willie feels so, so awful that he's the one who put the panic into Alex's mind, the fear into his eyes that still lives there as he stares at Willie.

The thing about panic attacks is that you aren't immediately "cured" from them once they're over. It takes time to come back down, and a great deal of distraction to pull your thoughts away from whatever caused you to panic in the first place.  
Willie’s gaining his strength back much faster than before, maybe it’s Alex, maybe his board, maybe just being around people that really, truly love him, maybe a mix of the three, but he’s got enough to pull himself up, arms shaking, and sit, his arms tucked around his legs.

He moves away from Alex a little. He can’t cause him any more pain.

“My board,” he manages. “He jolted it.”

Reggie sits down in front of him, and Luke follows. “Your board?” Reggie asks. Willie only nods.

Reggie’s brow furrows. “But why would it hurt you if he jolted your board?”

“It’s his Horcrux.” says Alex, before Willie can. “Like our instruments. Willie’s is his Horcrux.” Alex’s voice is shaking, and Willie’s scared he’s going to start panicking again. “And Caleb fucking jolted it did some bullshit to it that made it so that if anyone touches it - Luke, get away from there -, Willie feels whatever pain he felt when Caleb first attacked his board.”

There’s a silence, and then Alex speaks again. “I’m going to burn that club down. I’m going to take it apart brick by brick, I’m going to hurt Caleb in the most excruciating ways possi-”

Willie stretches out a hand and takes Alex’s. It wasn’t panic his voice had been shaking with, it was pure rage.

“Alex,” he says. “I’m so, so, sorry.”

And Alex’s face crumbles. He grips Willie’s hand, he brings Willie closer to him - if you focus on putting all of your energy into your hand, you can move anything - and he pulls Willie into his arms. Willie buries his face in Alex’s shoulder, tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

“Don’t apologise. You didn’t do this.”

“But I made you mad.”

“Caleb made me mad. You play no part in this, you’re the victim here, Willie.” Willie hears those words and something in him breaks.

Victim. He’s the victim.

All this time, he’d been blaming himself for everyone’s problems, and maybe he should have been blaming someone else. Someone like Caleb.

“I have to go back.”

It’s the clearest thing he’s said all night, and it makes Alex freeze.

“You are not going back there.”

This is Julie’s voice. She, too, is angry.

“Julie, you don’t get it, he’s all I have -”

“You have us, Willie. You have Luke, and Reggie, and me, and you have Alex.”

Alex’s hold on him tightens.

“But I’m a burden, aren’t I?”

“Willie. You aren’t a burden. You’re family. Family isn’t a burden. Real family isn’t. And that place, the club? It is doing nothing positive for your mental health. That’s a toxic environment, Willie. Take it from me.”

Alex pulls back, and Willie almost sob at the loss of contact, but Alex is just shifting, adjusting to pull Willie into his lap, his chest against Willie’s back.

“I’m going to do what I can to protect you, okay?” Julie says. Willie doesn’t know what she can do, but right now, that’s exactly what he needs to hear.

“Let’s start with your board, okay?” Willie’s eyes widen, and he starts to shake his head violently. No no no no no this isn’t right she shouldn’t be touching it.

“No.” says Alex, taking Willie’s hands and thumbing over the creases in his palm. “No, we start with you getting Caleb’s hold off of him.”

Julie meets Alex’s eyes. “Alex, I don’t know if I can-”

Alex tightens his grip on Willie. “Just. Try. Please.”

Julie glances at Luke, who smiles and takes her hand. “You can do it. You did this, didn’t you?” he says, indicating her hand in his.

“Yeah, Jules, you’ve got this!” comes Reggie’s upbeat voice.

Julie sighs. “Okay. I’ll try. Alex, give me your hand.”

Alex takes one of his hands away from Willie, and it hurts a bit, but he just pushes through it, like he always does.

“Okay, now what?” asks Alex, his voice suddenly quiet and fearful, void of the rage that was coursing through it only minutes before.

“Now,” Julie says, “you let me work my magic.” She wiggles the fingers of her free hand, then throws her arms around Willie and Alex. She’s muttering something, lyrics maybe, because there’s something of a tune to it. “Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do, look out, look inside of you.” over and over and Willie feels this warmth spread through him. His wrist shines bright purple as he sees Caleb’s mark on his skin for the first time in fifteen years. As he watches, it floats up and away from him, dissipating in the air.

When Julie pulls back, she’s smiling. “Well, that was the easy part.”

But her smile looks forced, and there are shadows under her eyes that weren’t there a minute ago. Willie frowns. “Jules, if it’s gonna hurt you to try my board-”

Julie holds up her hand. “I’m fine. Just… give me a sec. Luke?”

Luke grins and stands up, pulling Julie with him and into a kiss. Reggie gags. “Wow, the amount of couples in here makes me want to gag.”

Willie laughs a little. “Reggie, you already did gag.”

Reggie stares at Willie. “The amount of couples in here makes me want to gag again.”

“Better.”

Reggie smiles.

“Okay.” Julie says. “Now, the board.” 

Willie tenses. It’ll be fine, it will. He’s got Alex, and the rest of the boys here, and Caleb’s mark is gone.

Julie steps over to where his skateboard sits, covered with stickers and waiting to be used. She stoops low towards it, stretching her hand to lay flat on the sandpapery top.

Willie sucks in a breath of air, and behind him, he hears Alex do the same, but it’s okay, it’s okay, because the space around Julie’s hand begins to shine bright and something that looks like twine, wrapped tightly around the board, glows and then snaps. And then it’s gone, and Julie turns to look at Willie, grinning.

“That’s it. I got it. And now I need to take a very long nap.”

“Can I come?” asks Luke, his finger in the air. Julie smiles at him, shaking her head in an I’m dating a fool way.

“Yeah, but first, we gotta get Alex and Willie, over here, into the studio.”

With some tugging at their arms, Alex and Willie are helped up and into the studio, where they sit on the couch, Alex’s arms coming back around Willie.

“Why don’t we give them some privacy?” says Luke.

Julie, Luke, and Reggie leave the studio to do god knows what and Willie and Alex are left alone.

Alex is the first to break the silence.

“You wanna tell me about what happened back there?”

Willie sighs and unwraps Alex’s arms, turning around so that he’s facing his boyfriend.

“You know how I showed up yesterday with a black eye?”

Alex nods.

“I didn’t have a skating accident. I.. uh. I lost a customer, and I got that as punishment.”

Alex’s eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to respond, but Willie holds up a finger.

“And then, this morning, I showed up there, missing the bruise, so Caleb asked me where it went. I made up this stupid lie about doing my makeup so Dante and Fuego wouldn’t have to, and he took… he took my board. As punishment.”

Willie tells Alex the rest of the story, the day that seemed to be so epically long, but stayed twenty four hours the whole way round.  
When he finishes, Alex is blinking rapidly. “I’m so sorry you felt like you weren’t enough for me. That you kept disappointing me. I’m so sorry.”

Willie shakes his head. “Hey, no, I’m sorry that I made you worry.”

The two meet eyes and then burst into giggles. “Just a sorry parade, huh?” asks Alex.

“Yeah, it really is.” says Willie.

And then Alex is pulling Willie closer to him and crashing their lips together and running his fingers through Willie’s hair and Willie does not want to leave and you know what?

He doesn’t have to. He can stay here for as long as he wants and make out with his boyfriend for as long as he wants.

“I love you.”

Alex pulls back, blushing furiously and grinning hard. “I - I love you, too.”

Willie smiles. It’s the first time he’s said that to Alex, and honestly, he can’t think of a better time to say it. Alex is blushing madly and it makes Willie giggles and lean down and kiss him again.

He’s freer than he’s ever felt in his life and death, and he can positively say that he feels happy.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! as always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and make my little fangirl heart sing!
> 
> i hope you liked this fic as much as i liked writing it. it ended up being a few thousand words longer than i originally planned, but im proud of it, gods dammit :)!  
> apologies for the willie angst, i really seem to love putting him through some shit, huh? dont worry, ill have some fluff coming atcha at some point!
> 
> also i just sort of headcanon that julie mutters "wake up" when she does her ghost healy thing, since that scene always strikes me as the warmest sounding one.
> 
> also also the title of this fic is from another hozier song, "in the woods somewhere". (i highly recommend it if you havent already listened to it).
> 
> okay, im done :)
> 
> fair winds, my lovelies!  
> -rainy<3
> 
> ps one more thing! here's the link to my discord server, if you wanna join!  
> [Discord!](https://discord.gg/AKkmdWRcZY)


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